Locating History and Ethnography in Early Dutch Colonial Films of Indonesia
How should colonial film archives be read? How can historians and ethnographers use colonial film as a complement to conventional written sources? Sandeep Ray uses the case of Dutch colonial film in Indonesia to show how a critically-, historically- and cinematically-informed reading of colonial film in the archive can be a powerful and unexpected ......
Global Christianity and the Local Church in Penang and Singapore, 1819-2000
In postcolonial Singapore and Malaysia, Pentecostal megachurches dominate the Christian landscape, but the "big four" Protestant churches-Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and Brethren-remain religions of heritage for many. Sixty Malaysian and nineteen Singaporean assemblies identify themselves as Christian Brethren, and most trace their roots to ......
Islam is at home in many of the areas of the eastern Indonesia, with the early 15th century Masjid Tua Wapauwe in Northern Maluku arguably the oldest mosque in Indonesia. The studies collected in this volume present a rich introduction to the myriad ways of being Muslim across this diverse archipelago, from Sulawest to Maluku and Nusa Tenggara ......
Language and Politics in the Toraja Highlands of Indonesia
The expression "one or two words" is used by the Toraja highlanders of Indonesia to refer euphemistically to their highly elaborate form of political speechmaking. Moving from this understatement, which denotes the meaningfulness of transient acts of speech, One or Two Words offers an analysis of the shifting power relations between centers and ......
Progress, Retrenchment and Ambiguity Amidst Liberalization
The optimism provoked by Myanmar's political reforms in 2011-2012 has now given way to a sense that the uneven nature of change in this nation of 54 million has lead to instability and uncertainty. The liberalization of critical sectors and expansion of certain freedoms - such as political and legal opportunities for expression and mobilization ......
How can a controversy about forms of deference (show of respect to the elite) in Java reveal tensions around colonial policies and the rise of nationalism? What was VietNamese about the French colonial governor's palace in Hanoi, and how did the VietNamese design partially French rural houses? What can the circulation of jazz in Asia tell us about ......
Money Politics, Patronage and Clientelism at the Grassroots
This new text provides a systematic analysis of grassroots level electioneering in the Philippines, using data gathered in the context of the 2016 elections, and combining in-depth ethnographic fieldwork with a national comparative scope. The chapters in this volume detail and analyse the electoral dynamics in a number of localities in order to ......
Humans and Other Animals in Colonial Singapore, 1819-1942
The environmental turn in the humanities and social sciences has meant a new focus on the history of animals. This is one of the first books to look across species at animals in a colonial, urban society. If imperialism is a series of power relationships, it involves not only the subjugation of human communities but also animals. What was the ......
Singapore had to build a military from scratch starting in 1965, with compulsory national service introduced in 1967. This is the story of the Singapore Armed Forces in the form of a collective portrait of its leaders. Tens of thousands of Singaporeans (overwhelmingly men) were commissioned as officers between 1965 and 2018, but only 170 ......
